^' It ^ % 'o 0^ / / -^^ "^■^■ \ s ,0^ 0^ .-.;%*""'\>'.o-''*% d^ 'V ■/■ .4' , •. ^- .0- .•'!!«,■'^- ,0' ^ ' %. '^.'^©^.^ .^^ '^' ^:'^'#p'. 0: s" , -f." .^^"V ^-^ V ^ s "^ -' ./ ^ - /.^ ,0 -.^^ % 1-* o ■^z- ' ■' .. K 4-' --b.' x^^ .\0 o,. ./^ • S .^' Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/successwithsmall01roee 3« SUCCESS WITH SMALL FRUITS. ,-^ ! fes^- DODD, MEAD & COMPANY t88o. /,%'^ ^^ Press of Francis Hart & Co. New-York. Copyright, 1880, hy DoDD. Mead & Company. Q'i'z\en q) bai?0 viv me loa&t. PREFA CE. A BOOK should be Judged sonieivhat in viezv of what it attempts. ^^^^ One of the chief objects of this little volume is to lure men and women back to their original calling, that of gar dealing. I am decidedly binder the impression that Eve helped Adam, especially as the sun declined. I am sure that they had small fruits for breakfast, dinner and supper, and ivould 7iot be at all surprised if they ate some between meals. Even zve poor mortals who have sinned more than once, a7id must give our minds to the effort not to appear ujinat^iral i?i many hideous styles of dress, can fare as ivell. The Adams and Eves of every generation can have an Eden if they wish. Indeed, I know of many instances in which Eve creates a beautiful and fruitful garden zvithout any help from Adam. The theologiajis shozv that we have inherited 7nuch evil from our first parents, but, iJt the general disposition to have a garden, can zve ?iot recog- nise a redeeming ancestral trait? I would like to contribute my little share toward increasing this tendency, believing that as humanity goes back to its first occupation it may also acquire some of the primal gardener s characteristics before he listened to temptatioji and ceased to be even a gentleman. When he brutally blamed the woman, it zvas time he zvas turfied out of Eden. All the best things of the garden suggest refine- ment and courtesy. Nature might have contented herself with producing seeds 07ily, but she accompanies the prosaic action with fragrant Jlozvers ajid delicious fruit. It zvould be zuell to rejnember this in the ordinary courtesies of life. Moreover, since the fruit-garden and f ami do not develop in a straight- forward, matter-of-fact way, zuhy should I zvrite about them after the formal and terse fashion of a manual or scientific treatise f The most productive varieties of fruit blossom and have some foliage which may not be very beautiful any more than the departiircs from practical prose in this book are interesting ; but, as a leafless plant or bush, laden zvith fruit, zvould 8 Preface. appear gaunt and naked, so, to the ivriter, a book about them without any attempt at foliage and flowers zvould seem unnatural. The modern chronicler has transformed history into a fascinating story. Even science is nozu taught througJi the charms of fiction. Shall this department of kuozuledge, so generally Jiseful, be left only to technical prose? Why should zve fiot have a class of books as practical as the gardens, fields, and crops, concerning which they are zvritten, and at the same time having much of the light, shade, color and life of the out-of-door world. I merely claim that I have made an attempt in the right direction, but, like an tinskillful artist, may have so conftised my lights, shades, and mixed my colors so badly that my pictures resemble a strawberry-bed in zuhich the zOeeds have the better of the fruit. Liberal outlines of this zuork, zvith its illustrations, appeared in Scrib- ner's Magazine, but the larger scope afforded by the book has enabled me to treat many subjects for zvhich there zvas no space in the- magazine, and also to give my views more fully concerning topics only touched upon in the serial. As the fruits described are being improved, so in the future other ajid more skillful horticulturists ivill develop the literature relating to them ijito its true proportions. I am well aware that the superb illusti^ations give to this volume, in the estimation of many, its chief value, and for them I am indebted to the liberal views of Messrs. Scribner & Company, and to Messrs. Dodd, Mead &" Company, my publishers. The task of gathering my material zvas a labor of love, often made doubly deliglitful by the companionship of the gentleman having charge of the art department of Scribner s Magazine, Mr. A. W. Drake, and to his good taste the reader is largely indebted for the beauty of the engravings. I shall, moreover, alzvays cherish a grateful memory of the aid received from my brother, the Rev. A. C. Roe, and from Mr. W. H. Gibson, zuhose intimate knowledge of nature enabled him to give so correctly the character- istics of the fruits he portrayed. I am greatly indebted to the instruction received at various times from those venerable fathers and authorities on all qttestions relating to Eden- like pursuits — Mr. CJias. Downing of Newburgh, ajid Hon. Marshall P. Wilder of Boston, Mr. J. J. Thomas, Dr. Geo. Thurber ; to stich valuable works as those of A. S. Fuller, A. J. Dozvning, P. Barry, J. M. Merrick^ Jr., and some English authors ; to the live horticultural jourjtals in the East, West and South, and, last but not least, to many plain, practical fricit-grozuers, zvho are as well informed and sensible as they are modest in expressing their opinions. CONTENTS. CJuipter. I. Preliminary Parley II. The Fruit Garden III. Small Fruit Farming and its Profits IV. Strawberries — The Five Species and their History . V. Ideal Strawberries versus those of the Field and Market VI. Choice of Soil and Location VII. Preparing and Enriching the Soil VIII. Preparation of Soil by Drainage IX. The Preparation of Soils Comparatively Unfavorable X. Commercial and Special Fertilizers XI. Obtaining Plants and Improving our Stock XII. When Shall we Plant? XIII. What Shall we Plant ? XIV. Setting out Plants XV. Cultivation XVI. A Southern Strawberry Farm, and Methods of Culture XVII. Forcing Strawberries under Glass XVIII. Originating New Varieties — Hybridization XIX. Raspberries — Species, History, Propagation, etc. XX. Raspberries — Pruning — Staking — Mulching — Protection, etc. XXI. Raspberries — Varieties of the Foreign and Native Species . XXII. RUBUS OCCIDENTALIS BlACK-CAP AND PURPLE CaNE RASPBERRIES XXIII. The Raspberries of the Future XXIV. Blackberries — Varieties, Cultivation, etc XXV. Currants — Choice of Soil, Cultivation, Pruning, etc. XXVI. Currants, continued — Propagation, Varieties .... XXVII. Gooseberries XXVIII. Diseases and Insect Enemies of Small Fruits .... XXIX. Picking and Marketing XXX. Irrigation XXXI. Suggestive Experiences from widely separated Localities . XXXII. A FEW Rules and Maxims XXXIII. Varieties of Strawberries XXXIV. Varieties of other Small Fruits XXXV. Closing Words Page. 13 18 26 44 48 51 60 71 77 93 105 109 121 146 150 158 167 173 186 191 199 209 217 226 232 247 255 261 272 279 300 304 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Title. A rtist. Engraver. '• Ye boys that Gather," etc /iodt. Blum |. F. Jungling. The Home She Might Have Had Ahs. Mary H..F00U Photo-Eng. Co. Seeds and Pulp, etc W. 11. Gibson " " " The Alpine Strawberry " " W. J. Wilson. Hautbois or Haarbeer Strawberry. ... " '■ W. y. Dana. Indian Strawberry " " " " Common Wild Strawberry " " E. Clement. Fragaria Chilensis " " W. J. Wilson. New York Flower and Fruit 'is\\^er T. D. Sugden. The Deliberate Workman " " Jno. W. Evans. Picking Raspberries, etc " " " " " Marlboro' Thirds W. II. Gibson Amer. Photo-Eng. Co. SuNNYSiDE Fruit-Box " " " " " " A Hap-hazard Hoe A. B. Frost Photo-Eng. Co. CHAPTER I. Preliminary Parley. IN the ages that were somewhat shadowed, to say the least, when Nature indulged her own wild moods in man, and the world he trampled on rather than cultivated, there was a class who in their dreams and futile efforts became the unconscious prophets of our own time — the Alchemists. For centuries they believed they could transmute base metals into gold and silver. Modern knowledge enables us to work changes more beneficial than the alchemist ever dreamed of, and it shall be my aim to make one of these secrets as open as the sunlight in the fields and gardens wherein the beautiful mutations occur. To turn iron into gold would be a prosaic, barren process that might result in trouble to all concerned, but to trans- form heavy black earth and insipid rain-water into edible rubies with celestial perfume and ambrosial flavor, is indeed an art that appeals to the entire race, and enlists that imperious nether organ which has never lost its power over heart or brain. As long, therefore, as humanity's mouth waters at the thought of morsels more delicious even than " Sin under the tongue," I am sure of an audience when I discourse of strawberries and their kindred fruits. If apples led to the loss of Paradise, the reader will find described hereafter a list of fruits that will enable him to reconstruct a bit of Eden, even if the " Fall and all our woe" have left him possessed of merely a city yard. But land in the country, breezy hill-sides, moist, sheltered valleys, sunny plains — what opportunities for the divinest form of alchemy are here afforded to hundreds of thousands ! 14 Success zvith Small Fi'idts. Many think of the soil only in connection with the sad words of the burial service — "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes." Let us, while we may, gain more cheerful associations with our kindred dust. For a time it can be earth to strawberry blossoms, ashes to bright red berries, and their color will get into our cheeks and their rich subacid juices into our insipid lives, constituting a mental, moral and physical alterative that will so change us that we shall believe in evolution and imagine ourselves fit for a higher state of existence. One may delve in the earth so long as to lose all dread at the thought of sleeping in it at last, and the luscious fruits and bright-hued flowers that come out of it, in a way no one can find out, may teach our own resurrection more effectually than do the learned theologians. We naturally feel that some good saints in the flesh, even though they are " pillars of the church," need more than a " sea-change" before they can become proper citizens of " Jerusalem the Golden," but having com- pared a raspberry bush, bending gracefully under its delicious burden, with the insignificant seed from which it grew, we are ready to believe in all possibiHties of good. Thus we may gather more than berries from our fruit-gardens. Nature hangs thoughts and suggestions on every spray, and blackberry bushes give many an impressive scratch to teach us that good and evil are very near together in this world, and that we must be careful while seeking the one, to avoid the other. In every field of life those who seek the fruit too rashly are almost sure to have a thorny experience, and to learn that prickings are provided for those who have no consciences. He who sees in the world around him only what strikes the eye lives in a poor, half-furnished house ; he who obtains from his garden only what he can eat gathers but a meager crop. If I find something besides berries on my vines, I shall pick it if so inclined. The scientific treatise, or precise manual, may break up the well-rooted friendship of plants, and compel them to take leave of each other, after the arbitrary fashion of methodical minds, but I must talk about them very much as nature has taught me, since, in respect to out-of-door life, my education was acquired almost wholly in the old-fashioned way at the venerable "dame's school." Nay more, I claim that I have warrant to gather from my horticultural texts more than can be sent to the dining-table or commission merchant. Such a matter-of-fact plant as the currant makes some attempt to embroider its humble life with ornament, and in April the bees will prove to you that honey may be gathered even from a gooseberry bush. Indeed, goose- berries are like some ladies that we all know. In their young and blos- soming days they are sweet and pink-hued, and then they grow acid, pale, and hard, but in the ripening experience of later life they become sweet Preliminary Parley. 15 again and tender. Before they drop from their places the bees come back for honey, and find it. In brief, I propose to take the reader on quite an extended ramble among the small fruits. It is much the same as if I said, " Let us go a strawberry ing together," and we talked as we went over hill and through dale in a style somewhat in harmony with our wanderings. Very many, no doubt, will glance at these introductory words, and decline to go with me, correctly feeling that they can find better company. Other busy, practical souls will prefer a more compact, straightforward treatise that is like a lesson in a class-room rather than a stroll in the fields, or a tour among the fruit farms, and while sorry to lose their company, I have no occasion to find fault. I assure those, however, who, after this preliminary parley, decide to go further, that I will do my best to make our excursion pleasant, and to cause as little weariness as is possible, if we are to return with full baskets. I shall not follow the example of some thrifty people who invite one to go " a-berrying," but lead away from fruitful nooks, proposing to visit them alone by stealth. All the secrets I know shall beconie open ones. I shall conduct the reader to all the " good places," and name the good things I have discovered in half a lifetime of research. I would, therefore, mod- estly hint to the practical reader — to whom " time is money," who has an eye to the fruit only, and with whom the question of outlay and return is ever uppermost — that he may, after all, find it to his advantage to go with us. While we stop to gather a flower, listen to a brook or bird, or go out of our way occasionally to get a view, he can jog on, meeting us at every point where we "mean business." These points shall occur so often that he will not lose as much time as he imagines, and I think he will find my business talks business like — quite as practical as he desires. To come down to the plainest of plain prose, I am not a theorist on these subjects, nor do I dabble in small fruits as a rich and fanciful amateur, to whom it is a matter of indifference whether his strawberries cost five cents or a dollar a quart. As a farmer, milk must be less expensive than champagne. I could not afford a fruit farm at all if it did not more than pay its way, and in order to win the confidence of the " solid men," who want no " gush " or side sentiment, even though nature suggests some warrant for it, I will give a bit of personal experience. Five years since, I bought a farm of twenty-three acres that for several years had been rented, depleted, and suffered to run wild. Thickets of brush-wood extended from the fences well into the fields, and in a notable instance across the entire place. One portion was so stony that it could not be plowed ; another so wet and 1 6 . Success with Small Fruits. sour that even grass would not grow upon it ; a third portion was not only swampy, but liable to be overwhelmed with stones and gravel twice a year by the sudden rising of a mountain stream. There was no fruit on the place except apples and a very few pears and grapes. Nearly ail of the land, as I found it, was too impoverished to produce a decent crop of strawberries. The location of the place, moreover, made it very expen- sive — it cost $19,000 — and yet during the third year of occupancy the income from this place approached very nearly to the outlay, and in 1878, during which my most expensive improvements were made, in the way of draining, taking out stones, etc., the income paid for these improvements, for current expenses, and gave a surplus of over $1,800. In 1879, the net income was considerably larger. In order that these statements may not mislead any one, I will add that in my judgment only the combined business of plants and fruit would warrant such expenses as I have incur- red. My farm is almost in the midst of a village, and the buildings upon it greatly increased its cost. Those who propose to raise and sell fruit only should not burden themselves with high-priced land. Farms, even on the Hudson, can be bought at quite moderate prices at a mile or more away from centers, and yet within easy reach of landings and railroad depots. Mr. Charles Downing, whose opinions on all horticultural questions are so justly valued, remarked to me that no other fruit was so affected by varying soils and climates as the strawberry. I have come to the conclu- sion that soil, locality and climate make such vast differences that unless these variations are carefully studied and indicated, books will mislead more people than they help. A man may write a treatise admirably adapted to his own farm ; but if one, living a thousand, a hundred, or even one mile away, followed the same method, he might almost utterly fail. While certain general and foundation principles apply to the culti- vation of each genus of fruit, important modifications and, in some instances, almost radical changes of method must be made in view of the varied conditions in which it is grown. It is even more important to know what varieties are best adapted to different localities and soils. While no experienced and candid authority will speak confidently and precisely on this point, much very useful infor- mation and suggestion may be given by one who, instead of theorizing, observes, questions and records facts as they are. The most profitable strawberry of the far South will produce scarcely any fruit in the North, although the plant grows well, and some of our best raspberries cannot even exist in a hot climate or upon very light soils. In the preparation of this book it has been my aim to stud^ these conditions, that I might give Preliminary Parley. i y advice useful in Florida and Canada, New York and California, as well as at Cornwall. I have maintained an extensive correspondence with practical fruit growers in all sections, and have read with care contributions to the horticultural press from widely separated localities. Not content with this, I have visited in person the great fruit-growing centers of New Jersey, Norfork and Richmond, Va. ; Charleston, S. C. ; Augusta and Savannah, Ga., and several points in Florida. Thus, from actual observation and full, free conversation, I have familiarized myself with both the Northern and Southern aspects of this industry, while my correspondence from the far West, South-west and California will, I hope, enable me to aid the novice in those regions also. I know in advance that my book will contain many and varied faults, but I intend that it shall be an expression of honest opinion. I do not like " foxy grapes" nor foxy words about them. CHAPTER II. THE FRUIT GARDEN. Raison cVeire. SMALL fruits, to people who live in the country, are like heaven, — objects of universal desire and very general neglect. Indeed, in a land so peculiarly adapted to their cultivation, it is difficult to account for this neglect if you admit the premise that Americans are civilized and intellectual. It is the trait of a savage and inferior race to devour with immense gusto a delicious morsel, and then trust to luck for another. People who would turn away from a dish of "Monarch" strawberries, with their plump pink cheeks powdered Avith sugar, or from a plate of melting raspberries and cream, would be regarded as so eccentric as to suggest an asylum ; but the number of professedly intelligent and moral folk who ignore the simple means of enjoying the ambrosial viands daily, for weeks together, is so large as to shake one's confidence in human nature. A well-maintained fruit garden is a comparatively rare adjunct of even stylish and pretentious homes. In June, of all months, in sultry July and August, there arises from innumerable country breakfast tables, the pungent odor of a meat into which the devils went, but out of which there is no proof they ever came. From the garden under the windows might have been gathered fruits whose aroma would have tempted spirits of the air. The cabbage-patch may be seen afar, but too often the strawberry-bed, even if it exists, is hidden by weeds, and the later small fruits struggle for bare life in some neglected corner. Indeed, an excursion into certain parts of New England might suggest that bicreasc of Floiver and Fricit CidUire. 19 many of its thrifty citizens would not have been content in Eden until they had put its best land into onions and tobacco. Through the superb scenery of Vermont there flows a river whose name, one might think, would secure an unfailing tide from the eyes of the inhabitants. The Alpine strawberry grows wild in all that region, but the Puritan smacked his lips over another gift of nature and named the romantic stream in its honor. To account for certain tastes or tendencies, mankind must certainly have fallen a little way, or, if Mr. Darwin's view is correct, and we are on a slight up-grade, a dreadful hitch and tendency to backslide has been apparent at a certain point ever since the Hebrews sighed for the "leeks and onions of Egypt." Of course, there is little hope for the rural soul that " loathes " the light manna of small fruits. We must leave it to evolution for another cycle or two. But, as already indicated, we believe that humanity in the main has reached a point where its internal organs highly approve of the delicious group of fruits that strayed out of Paradise, and have not yet lost themselves among the "thorns and thistles." Indeed, modern skill — the alchemy of our age — has wrought such wonders that Eden is possible again to ail who will take the trouble to form Eden-like tastes and capacities. The number who are doing this is increasing every year. The large demand for literature relating to out-of-door life, horticultural journals, like the fruits of which they treat, flourishing in regions new and remote, are proof of this. The business of supplying fruit-trees, plants, and even flowers, is becoming a vast industry. I have been informed that one enterprising firm annually spends thousands in advertising roses only. But, while we welcome the evidences that so many are ceasing to be bucolic heathen, much observation has shown that the need of further enlightenment is large indeed. It is depressing to think of the number of homes about which fruits are conspicuous only by their absence^ — homes of every class, from the laborer's cottage and pioneer's cabin to the suburban palace. Living without books and pictures is only a little worse than living in the country without fruits and flowers. We must respect to some extent the old ascetics, who, in obedience to mistaken ideas of duty, deprived themselves of the good things God provided, even while we recognize the stupidity of such a course. Little children are rarely so lacking in sense as to try to please their father by contempt- uously turning away from his best gifts, or by treating them with indifference. Why do millions live in the country, year after year, raising weeds and brambles, or a few coarse vegetables, when the choicest fruits 20 Success with Small Fruits. would grow almost as readily ? They can plead no perverted sense of duty. It is a question hard to answer. Some, perhaps, have the delusion that fine small fruits are as difficult to raise as orchids. They class them with hot-house grapes. Others think they need so little attention that they can stick a few plants in hard, poor ground and leave them to their fate. One might as well try to raise canary-birds and kittens together as strawberries and weeds. There is a large class who believe in small fruits, and know their value. They enjoy them amazingly at a friend's table, and even buy some when they are cheap. A little greater outlay and a little intelligent effort would give them an abundant supply from their own grounds. In a vague way they are aware of this, and reproach themselves for their negli- gence, but time passes and there is no change for the better. Why ? I don't know. There are men who rarely kiss their wives and children. For them the birds sing unheeded and even unheard ; flowers become mere objects, and sunsets suggest only "quitting time." In theory they believe in all these things. What can be said of them save that they simply jog on to-day as they did yesterday, ever dimly hoping at some time or other " to live up to their privileges." But they usually go on from bad to worse, until, like their neglected strawberry-beds, they are " turned under." In cities not a hundred miles from my farm there are abodes of wealth with spacious grounds, where, in many instances, scarcely any place is found for small fruits. " It is cheaper and easier to buy them," it is said. This is a sorry proof of civilization. There is no economy in the barbaric splendor of brass buttons and livery, but merely a little trouble (I doubt about money) is saved on the choicest luxuries of the year. The idea of going out of their rural paradises to buy half-stale fruit! But this class is largely at the mercy of the " hired man," or his more disagreeable development, the pretentious smatterer, who, so far from possessing the knowledge that the English, Scotch or German gardeners acquire in their long thorough training, is a compound of ignorance and prejudice. To hide his barrenness of mind he gives his soul to rare plants, clipped lawns, but stints the family in all things save his impudence. If he tells his obsequious employers that it is easier and cheaper to buy their fruit than to raise it, of course there is naught to do but go to the market and pick up what they can ; and yet Dr. Thurber says, with a vast deal of force, that " the unfortunate people who buy their fruit do not know what a strawberry is." In all truth and soberness, it is a marvel and a shame that so many sane people who profess to have passed beyond the habits of the wilderness will not give the attention required by these unexacting fruits. The man who The Fniit Garde}!.. 21 has learned to write his name can learn to raise them successfully. The ladies who know how to keep their homes neat through the labors of their " intelligent help," could also learn to manage a fruit garden even though employing the stupidest oaf that ever blundered through life. The method is this : First learn how yourself, and then let your laborer thor- oughly understand that he gets no wages unless he does as he is told. In the complicated details of a plant farm there is much that needs constant supervision, but the work of an ordinary fruit garden is, in the main, straightforward and simple. The expenditure of a little time, money, and, above all things, of seasonable labor, is so abundantly repaid that one would think that bare self-interest would solve invariably the simple prob- lem of supply. As mere articles of food, these fruits are exceedingly valuable. They are capable of sustaining severe and continued labor. For months together we might become almost independent of butcher and doctor if we made our places produce all that nature permits. Purple grapes will hide unsightly buildings ; currants, raspberries and blackberries will grow along the fences and in the corners that are left to burdocks and brambles. I have known invalids to improve from the first day that berries were brought to the table, and thousands would exchange their sallow complexions, sick- headaches, and general ennui for a breezy interest in life and its abound- ing pleasures, if they would only take nature's palpable hint, and enjoy the seasonable food she provides. Belles can find better cosmetics in the fruit garden than on their toilet tables, and she who paints her cheeks with the pure, healthful blood that is made from nature's choicest gifts, and the exercise of gathering them, can give her lover a kiss that will make him wish for another. The famous Dr. Hosack, of New York city, who attended Alexander Hamilton after he received his fatal wound from Burr, was an enthusiast on the subject of fruits. It was his custom to terminate his spring course of lectures with a strawberry festival. " I must let the class see," he said, "that we are practical as well as theoretical. Linnaeus cured his gout and protracted his life by eating strawberries." " They are a dear article," a friend remarked, " to gratify the appetites of so many." " Yes, indeed," replied the doctor, " but from our present mode of culture they will become cheap." It is hard to realize how scarce this fruit was sixty or seventy years ago, but the prediction of the sagacious physician has been verified even beyond his imagination. Strawberries are raised almost as abundantly 2.2 Success zvitk Small Fruits. as potatoes, and for a month or more can be eaten as a cheap and wholesome food by all classes, even the poorest. By a proper selection of varieties we, in our home, feast upon them six weeks together, and so might the majority of those whose happy lot is cast in the country. The small area of a city yard planted with a few choice kinds will often yield surprising returns under sensible culture. If we cultivate these beautiful and delicious fruits we always have the power of giving pleasure to others, and he's a churl and she a pale reflection of Xantippe who does not covet this power. The faces of our guests brighten as they snuff from afar the delicate aroma. Our vines can furnish gifts that our friends will ever welcome ; and by means of their products we can pay a homage to genius that will be far more grateful than commonplace compliments. I have seen a letter from the Hon. Wm. C. Bryant, which is a rich return for the few strawberries that were sent to him, and the thought that they gave him pleasure gives the donor far more. They are a gift that one can bestow and another take without involving any compromise on either side, since they belong to the same category as smiles, kind words and the universal freemasonry of friendship. Faces grow radiant over a basket of fruit or flowers that would darken with anger at other gifts. If, in the circle of our acquaintance, there are those shut up to the weariness and heavy atmosphere of a sick-room, in no way can we send a ray of sunlight athwart their pallid faces more effectually than by placing a basket of fragrant fruit on the table beside them. Even though the physician may render it "forbidden fruit," their eyes will feast upon it and the aroma will teach them that the world is not passing on, unheeding and uncaring whether they live or die. The Fruit and Flower Mission of New York is engaged in a beautiful and most useful charity. Into tenement-houses and the hot close wards of city hospitals, true sisters of mercy of the one Catholic church of love and kindness carry the fragrant emblems of an Eden that was lost, but may be regained even by those who have wandered farthest from its beauty and purity. Men and women, with faces seemingly hardened and grown rigid under the impress of vice, that but too correctly reveal the coarse and brutal nature within, often become wistful and tender over some simple flower or luscious fruit that recalls earlier and happier days. These are gifts which offend no prejudices, and inevitably suggest that which is good, sweet, wholesome and pure. For a moment, at least, and perhaps forever, they may lead stained and debased creatures to turn their faces heavenward. There are little suffering children also in the hospitals ; TJie Fniit Garden. 23 there are exiles from country homes and country Hfe in the city who have been swept down not by evil but the dark tides of disaster, poverty and disease, and to such it is a privilege as well as a pleasure to send gifts that will tend to revive hope and courage. That we may often avail ourselves of these gracious opportunities of giving the equivalent of a " cup of cold water," we should plant fruits and flowers in abundance. tM ■dlw The New York Flower and Fruit Mission. — A Gift of Strawberries. One of the sad features of our time is the tendency of young people to leave their country homes. And too often one does not need to look far for the reason. Life at the farm-house sinks into deep ruts, and becomes weary plodding. There are too many "one-ideaed" farmers and farms. It is corn, potatoes, wheat, butter or milk. The staple production absorbs all thought and everything else is neglected. Nature demands that young people should have variety, and furnishes it in abundance. The stolid farmer too often ignores nature and the cravings of youth, and insists on the heavy monotonous work of his specialty, early and late, the year around, and then wonders why in his declining years there are no 24 Success zvith Small Fruits. strong young hands to lighten his toil. The boy who might have hved a sturdy, healthful, independent life among his native hills is a bleached and sallow youth measuring ribbons and calicoes behind a city counter. The girl who might have been the mistress of a tree-shadowed country house disappears under much darker shadows in town. But for their The Home She Might Have Had. early home life, so meager and devoid of interest, they might have breathed pure air all their days. Not the least among the means of making a home attractive would be a well-maintained fruit garden. The heart and the stomach have been found nearer together by the metaphysicians than the physiologists, and if the " house mother," as the Germans say, beamed often at her children over a great dish of berries flanked by a pitcher of unskimmed milk, not only good blood and good feeling would be developed, but something that the poets call " early ties." There is one form of gambling or speculation that, within proper limits, is entirely innocent and healthful — the raising of new seedling fruits and the testing of new varieties. In these pursuits, the elements of chance, skill and judgment enter so evenly that they are an unfailing source of pleasurable excitement. The catalogues of plant, tree and seed The Fruit Garde7i. 25 dealers abound in novelties. The majority of them cannot endure the test of being grown by the side of our well-known standard kinds, but now and then an exceedingly valuable variety, remarkable for certain qualities or peculiarly adapted to special localities and uses, is developed. There is not only an unfailing pleasure in making these discoveries, but often a large profit. If, three or four years ago, a country boy had bought a dozen Sharpless strawberry plants, and propagated from them, he might now obtain several hundred dollars from their increased numbers. Time only can show whether this novelty will become a standard variety, but at present the plants are in great demand. The young people of a country home may become deeply interested in originating new seedlings. A thousand strawberry seeds will produce a thousand new kinds, and, although the prospects are that none of them will equal those now in favor, something very fine and superior may be obtained. Be this as it may, if these simple natural interests prevent boys and girls from being drawn into the maelstrom of city life, until character is formed, each plant will have a value beyond silver or gold. One of the supreme rewards of human endeavor is a true home, and surely it is as stupid as it is wrong to neglect some of the simplest and yet most effectual means of securing this crown of earthly life. A home is the product of many and varied causes, but I have yet to see the man who will deny that delicious small fruits for eight months of the year and the richer pleasure even of cultivating and gathering them, may become one of the chief contributions to this result. I use the words " eight months " advisedly, for even now, January 29, we are enjoying grapes that were buried in the ground last October. I suppose my children are very material and unlike the good little people who do not live long, but they place a white mark against the days on which we unearth a jar of grapes. CHAPTER III. SMALL FRUIT FARMING AND ITS PROFITS. A FARM without a fruit garden may justly be regarded as proof of a low state of civilization in the farmer. No country home should be without such simple means of health and happiness. For obvious reasons, however, there is not, and never can be, the same room for fruit raising as there is for grain, grass, and stock farming. Nevertheless, the oppor- tunities to engage with profit in this industry on a large scale are increasing every year. From being a luxury of a few, the small fruits have become an article of daily food to the million. Even the country village must have its supply, and the number of crates that are shipped from New York city to neighboring towns is astonishingly large. As an illustration of the rapidly enlarging demand for these fruits, let us consider the experience of one Western city — Cincinnati. Mr. W. H. Corbly, who is there regarded as one of the best informed on these subjects, has gathered the following statistics: "In 1835 it was regarded as a most wonderful thing that lOO bushels of strawberries could be disposed of on the Cincinnati market in one day, and was commented on as a great event. A close estimate shows that during the summer of 1879 eighty to eighty-five thousand bushels of strawberries were sold in Cincinnati. Of course, a large part of these berries were shipped away, but it is estimated that nearly one-half were consumed here. About the year 1838, the cultivation of black raspberries was com- menced in this county by James Gallagher and F. A. McCormick of Salem, Anderson township. The first year, Gallagher's largest shipment in one day was six bushels, and McCormick's four. When they were Fruit Farniinsr. 27 placed on the market, McCormick sold out at 6]/^ cents per quart, and Gallagher held off till McCorrfiick had sold out, when he put his on sale and obtained 8^ cents per quart, and the demand was fully supplied. It is estimated that the crop for the year of 1879, handled in Cincinnati, amounted to from seventy-five thousand to eighty thousand bushels — the crop being a fairly good one — selling at an average of about $2 per bushel." It has been stated in the Cotmtry Gentleman that about $5,000,000 worth of small fruits were sold in Michigan in one year; and the same authority estimates that $25,000,000 worth are consumed annually in New York city. In the future, it would seem that this demand would increase even more rapidly ; for in every fruit-growing region immense canning establish- ments are coming into existence, to which the markets of the world are open. Therefore, in addition to the thousands already embarked in this industry, still larger numbers will engage in it during the next few years. Those who now for the first time are turning their attention toward this occupation may be divided mainly into two classes. The first consists of established farmers, who, finding markets within their reach, extend their patches of raspberries, currants, or strawberries to such a degree that they have a surplus to sell. To the extent that such sales are remunera- tive, they increase the area of fruits, until in many instances they become virtually fruit farmers. More often a few acres are devoted to horticulture, and the rest of the farm is carried on in the old way. The second class is made up chiefly of those who are unfamiliar with the soil and its culture — mechanics, professional men, who hope to regain health by coming back to nature, and citizens whose ill-success or instincts suggest country life and labors. From both these classes, and especially from the latter, I receive very many letters, containing all kinds of ques- tions. The chief burden on most minds, however, is summed up in the words, "Do small fruits pay?" To meet the needs of these two classes is one of the great aims of this work ; and it is my most earnest wish not to mislead by high-colored pictures. Small fruits pay many people well ; and unless location, soil, or climate is hopelessly against one, the degree of profit will depend chiefly upon his skill, judgment, and industry. The raising of small fruits is like other callings in which some are getting rich, more earning a fair livelihood, and not a few failing. It is a business in which there is an abundance. of sharp, keen competition ; and ignorance, poor judgment, and shiftless, idle ways will be as fatal as in the workshop, store, or office. Innumerable failures result from inexperience. I will give one extreme example, which may serve to illustrate the sanguine mental condition of 28 Success with Small Fruits. many who read of large returns in fruit culture. A young man who had inherited a few hundred dollars wrote me that he could hire a piece of land for a certain amount, and he wished to invest the balance — every cent — in plants, thus leaving himself no capital with which to continue operations, but expecting that a speedy crop would lift him at once into a prosperous career. I wrote that under the circumstances I could not supply him — that it would be about the same as robbery to do so; and advised him to spend several years with a practical and successful fruit- grower and learn the business. Most people enter upon this calling in the form of a wedge ; but only too many commence at the blunt end, investing largely at once in everything, and therefore their business soon tapers down to nothing. The wise begin at the point of the wedge and develop their calling naturally, healthfully; learning, by experience and careful observation, how to grow fruits profitably, and which kinds pay the best. There ought also to be considerable capital to start with, and an absence of the crushing burden of interest money. No fruits yield any returns before the second or third year ; and there are often unfavorable seasons and glutted markets. Nature's prizes are won by patient, persistent industry, and not by Wall street sleight of hand. Location is very important. A fancy store, however well-furnished, would be a ruinous investment at a country cross-road. The fruit farm must be situated where there is quick and cheap access to good markets, and often the very best market may be found at a neighboring village, summer resort, or a canning establishment. Enterprise and industry, however, seem to surmount all obstacles. The Rev. Mr. Knox shipped his famous " 700 " strawberry (afterward known to be the Jucunda, a foreign variety) from Pittsburg to New York, securing large returns ; and, take the country over, the most successful fruit farms seem to be located where live men live and work. Still, if one were about to purchase, sound judgment would suggest a very careful choice of locality with speedy access to good markets. Mr. J. J. Thomas, editor of the Country Gentleman, in a paper upon the Outlook of Fruit Culture, read before the Western N. Y. Horticultural Society, laid down three essentials to success. 1st. Locality — -a region found by experience to be adapted to fruit growing. 2d. Wise selection of varieties of each kind. 3d. Care and culture of these varieties. He certainly is excellent authority. These obvious considerations, and the facts that have been instanced, make it clear that brains must unite with labor and capital. Above Fruit Farminsr. 29 all, however, there must be trained, practical skill. Those succeed who learn how ; and to add a little deftness to unskilled hands is the object of every succeeding page. At the same time, I frankly admit that nothing can take the place of experience. I once asked an eminent physician if a careful reading of the best medical text-books and thorough knowledge of the materia medica could take the place of daily study of actual disease and fit a man for practice, and he emphatically answered " No ! " It is equally true that an intelligent man can familiarize himself with every horticultural writer, from the classic age to our own, and yet be outstripped in success by an ignorant Irish laborer who has learned the little he knows in the school of experience. The probabilities are, however, that the laborer will remain such all his days, while the thoughtful, reading man, who is too sensible to be carried away by theories, and who supplements his science with experience, may enrich not only himself but the world. Still there is no doubt that the chances of success are largely in favor of the class I first named — the farmers who turn their attention in part or wholly toward fruit growing. They are accustomed to hard out-of-door work and the general principles of agriculture. The first is always essential to success ; and a good farmer can soon become equally skillful in the care of fruits if he gives his mind to their culture. The heavy, stupid, prejudiced plodder who thinks a thing is right solely because his grandfather did it, is a bucolic monster that is receding so fast into remote wilds before the horticultural press that he scarcely need be taken into account. Therefore, the citizen or professional man inclined to engage in fruit farming should remember that he must compete with the hardy, intelligent sons of the soil, who, in most instances, are crowning their practical experience with careful reading. I do not say this to discourage any one, but only to secure a thoughtful and adequate consider- ation of the subject before the small accumulations of years are embarked in what may be a very doubtful venture. Many have been misled to heavy loss by enthusiastic works on horticulture ; I wish my little book to lead only to success. If white-handed, hollow-chested professional men anxious to acquire money, muscle and health by fruit raising — if citizens disgusted with pavements and crowds are willing to take counsel of common sense and learn the business practically and thoroughly, why should they not succeed? But let no one imagine that horticulture is the final resort of ignorance, indolence or incapacity, physical or mental. Impostors palm themselves off on the world daily ; a credulous public takes poisonous nostrums by the 3© Success with Small Fndts. ton and butt ; but nature recognizes error every time, and quietly thwarts those who try to wrong her, either willfully or blunderingly. Mr. Peter Henderson, who has been engaged practically in vegetable gardening for over a quarter of a century, states, as a result of his expe- rience, that capital, at the rate of $300 per acre, is required in starting a "truck farm," and that the great majority fail who make the attempt with less means. In my opinion, the fruit farmer would require capital in like proportion ; for, while many of the small fruits can be grown with less prep- aration of soil and outlay in manure, the returns come more slowly, since, with the exception of strawberries, none of them yield a full crop until the third or fourth year. I advise most urgently against the incurring of heavy debts. Better begin with three acres than thirty, or three hundred, from which a large sum of interest money must be obtained before a penny can be used for other purposes. Anything can be raised from a farm easier than a mortgage. Success depends very largely, also, on the character of the soil. If it is so high and dry as to suffer severely from drouth two years out of three, it cannot be made to pay except by irrigation ; if so low as to be wet, rather than moist, the prospects are but little better. Those who are per- manently settled must do their best with such land as they have, and in a later chapter I shall suggest how differing soils should be managed. To those who can still choose their location, I would recommend a deep mel- low loam, with a rather compact subsoil — moist, but capable of thorough drainage. Diversity of soil and exposure offer peculiar advantages also. Some fruits thrive best in a stiff clay, others in sandy upland. Early varieties ripen earlier on a sunny slope, while a late kind is rendered later on a northern hill-side, or in the partial shade of a grove. In treating each fruit and variety, I shall try to indicate the soils and exposures to which they are best adapted. Profits. The reader will naturally wish for some definite statements of the profits of fruit farming ; but I almost hesitate to comply with this desire. A gentleman wrote to me that he sold from an acre of Cuthbert raspber- ries $800 worth of fruit. In view of this fact, not a few will sit down and begin to figure — " If one acre yielded $800, ten acres would produce $8,000; twenty acres $16,000, &c. Multitudes have been led into trouble by this kind of reasoning. The capacity of an engine with a given motor power can be measured, and certain and unvarying results predicted ; but who can measure the resources of an acre through varying seasons and under differ- ing culture, or foretell the price of the crops? In estimating future profits, we can only approximate ; and the following records are given merely to Fruit Fanning. 31 show what results have been secured, and therefore may be obtained again, and even surpassed. The Country Gentleman gives a well-authenticated instance of a fruit grower who " received more than $2,000 from three acres of strawberries." In contrast, however, it could be shown that many fields have not paid expenses. I once had such an experience. The market was " glutted," and the variety yielded berries so small and poor that they did not average five cents per quart. Occasionally, we hear of immense shipments from the South being thrown into the dock. Mr. William Parry, a veteran fruit grower in New Jersey, states the truth I wish to convey very clearly, and gives a fair mean between these two extremes : " YIELD AND PROFIT. " There are so many circumstances connected with strawberry growing, such as varieties, soil, climate, location, markets, and the skill and management of the grower, that the results of a few cases cannot be relied on for general rules. " We have grown over two hundred bushels per acre here, and realized upward of six hundred dollars per acre for the crop ; but that is much above the general average. Having kept a careful record, for fourteen years past, of the yield per acre and price per quart at which our strawberries have been sold, we find the average to be about 2,500 quarts per acre, and the price eleven cents per quart in market, giving the following results : Commissions, 10 per cent $27 . 50 Picking 2,500 quarts, at 2c. per quart . . , 50 . 00 Manure 17-50 Use of Baskets 10.00 Cultivation, etc 25.00 Net profits per acre 145 . 00 Gross proceeds. 2,500 quarts at iic $275. 00 In the year 1876, the same gentleman had ten acres of Brandy wine raspberries that yielded about 82 bushels to the acre, giving a clear profit of $280, or of $2,800 for the entire area. This crop, so far from being the average, was awarded a premium as the most profitable that year in the section. J. R. Gaston & Sons, of Normal, 111., have given the following record of a plantation of Snyder blackberries : " We commenced to pick a field of seven acres July 12th, and finished picking August 22d. The total amount gathered was 43,575 quarts, equal to 1,361 bushels and 22 quarts. The average price was eight cents per quart, making the gross y 32 Success with Small Fruits. proceeds equal to $3,486. We paid for picking $43575- The cost of trimming and cultivating was about $400; cost of boxes, crates and marketing was $1,307.25, leaving a net profit of $1,343." A gentleman in Ulster Co., N. Y., stated that 200 bushes of the Cherry currant yielded him in one season 1,000 lbs. of fruit, which was sold at an average of eight cents per pound. His gross receipts were $80 from one-fourteenth of an acre, and at the same ratio an acre would have yielded $1,120. Is this an average yield? So far from it, there are many acres of currants and gooseberries that do not pay expenses. Thus it can be seen that the scale ranges from marvelous prizes down to blanks and heavy losses ; but the drawing is not a game of chance, but usually the result of skill and industry, or their reverse. Tools for a Strawberry Farm. I might have given many examples of large, and even enormously large, profits obtained under exceptional circumstances ; but they tend to mislead. I write for those whose hearts prompt them to co-work with nature, and who are most happy when doing her bidding in the breezy fields and gardens, content with fair rewards, instead of being consumed by the gambler's greed for unearned gold. At the same time, I am decidedly in favor of high culture, and the most generous enriching of the soil ; convinced that fruit growers and farmers in general would make far more money if they spent upon one acre what they usually expend on three. In a later chapter will be found an instance of an expenditure of $350 per acre on strawberry land, and the net profits obtained were proportionately large. CHAPTER IV. STRAWBERRIES — THE FIVE SPECIES AND THEIR HISTORY. THE conscientious Diedrich Knickerbocker, that venerated historian from whom all good citizens of New York obtain the first impres- sions of their ancestry, felt that he . had no right to chronicle the vicissitudes of Manhattan Island until he had first accounted for the universe of which it is a part. Equally with the important bit of land named, the strawberry belongs to the existing cosmos, and might be traced back to "old chaos." I hasten to re-assure the dismayed reader. I shall not presume to follow one who could illumine his page with genius, and whose extensive learning enabled him to account for the universe, not merely in one but in half a dozen ways. It is the tendency of the present age to ask what is, not what has been or shall be. And yet, on the part of some, as they deliberately enjoy a saucer of strawberries and cream, — it is a pleasure that we prolong for obvious reasons, — a languid curiosity may arise as to the origin and history of so delicious a fruit. I suppose Mr. Darwin would say, "it was evolved." But some specimens between our lips suggest that a Geneva watch could put itself together quite as readily. At the same time, it must be said that our " rude forefathers" did not eat Monarch or Charles Downing strawberries. In few fruits, probably, have there been such vast changes or improvements as in this. Therefore, I shall answer briefly and as well as I can, in view of the meager data 5 33 34 Success zvith Small Fruits. and conflicting opinions of the authorities, the curiosity that I have imagined on some faces. Those who care only for the strawberry of to-day can easily skip a few pages. If there were as much doubt about a crop of this fruit as concern- ing the origin of its name, the outlook would be dismal, indeed. In old Saxon, the word was streazvbet'ige or streowbcrrie ; and was so named, says one authority, " from the straw-like stems of the plant, or from the berries lying strewn upon the ground." Another authority tells us: " It is an old English practice " (let us hope a modern one also) " to lay straw between the rows to preserve the fruit from rotting on the wet ground, from which the name has been supposed to be derived ; although more probably it is from the wandering habit of the plant, straw being a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon strm, from which we have the English verb stray." Again, tradition asserts that in the olden times children strung the berries on straws for sale, and hence the name. Several other causes have been suggested, but I forbear. I have never known, however, a person to decline the fruit on the ground of this obscurity and doubt. (Controversialists and skeptics please take note.) That the strawberry should belong to the rose family, and that its botanical name should be fragaria, from the Latin fragro, to smell sweetly, will seem both natural and appropriate. While for his knowledge of the plant I refer the reader to every hill- side and field (would that I might say, to every garden !), there is a pecul- iarity in the production of the fruit which should ■\J)4al^, ^ot pass unnoted. Strictly speaking, the small ^i^'^'^\x\]')iil^h seeds scattered over the surface of the berry are W '^^\ 'Jl/Z/W ^^^^ fruit, and it is to perfect these seeds that the sW^^ ^f', K^ plants blossom, the stamens scatter, and the c^^^/^% '^y &) pistils receive the pollen on the convex recepta- ^:;;^;^^^%/' f..^==^^^<^^=5:=, cle, which, as the seeds ripen, greatly enlarges, ^ — '''""M"""-""''''''^ and becomes the pulpy and delicious mass that \v is popularly regarded as the fruit. So far from Seeds and Pulp of the being the fruit, it is only "the much altered Strawberry. ° "^ _ end of the stem" that sustains the fruit or seeds ; and so it becomes a beautiful illustration of a kindly, genuine courtesy, which renders an ordinary service with so much grace and graciousness that we dwell on the manner with far more pleasure than on the service itself The innumerable varieties of strawberries that are now in existence appear, either in their character or origin, to belon.<^ to five great and quite Strazvberrics — Origin and History. 15 distinct species. The first, and for a long time the only one of which we have any record, is the Fragaria Vesca, or the Alpine strawberry. It is one of the most widely spread fruits of the world, for it grows, and for centuries has grown, wild through- out Northern and Central Europe and Asia, following the mountains far to the south ; and on this conti- nent, from time immemorial, the Indian children have gathered it from the Northern Atlantic to the Pacific. In England this species exhibits some variation from the Alpine type, and was called by our ancestors the Wood strawberry. The chief difference between the two is in the form of the fruit, the Wood varieties being round and the Alpine conical. They are also subdivided into white and red, annual and monthly varieties, and those that produce no runners, which are known to-day as Bush Alpines. The Alpine, as we find it growing wild, was the strawberry of the ancients. It is to it that the suggestive lines of Virgil refer, "Ye boys that gather flowers and strawberries, Lo, hid within the grass an adder lies." The Alpine Strawberry (Fragaria Vesca). fcerirjcs., l^,kid within tke g!'a|"4